Tag Archives: google plus

Google+ (or Google Plus) is the hot new thing in social networking. Everyone and their little sister have been clamouring for invites to set up their account in this new playground. Unfortunately, users are having to start from scratch without any of their connections, posts or other media cultivated from other social media sites. For example, Facebook is one of the most popular photo sharing websites and so it is likely that users have a lot of photos on it. Unfortunately, it is difficult to quickly export these photos from Facebook to Google Plus as Facebook does not have any automated tool to do so. Fortunately, enterprising users have created a Google Chrome extension that automatically transfers your Facebook photos to Google Plus.

I am confident there are a number of different methods to transfer your photos, however as I am an ardent Google Chrome user, in this article, I have described the method of exporting all your photos using the dedicated Google Chrome extension.

Installing and using the Chrome Extension

Firstly, head over to the Move Your Photos extension page and install it.

Once the extension is installed, you will notice a small Picasa icon to the right of the Chrome address bar, near the wrench. Click on this icon and you will be presented with a link to login to your Facebook account. This will grant the extension access to the photos on your Facebook account.

After you have logged in, the extension will start fetching all your Facebook photos. If you have any empty albums on Picasa, the extension will also notify you of this and allow you to delete them.

Once the pictures have been fetched, you can select which albums or individual photos to upload to your Picasa account.

Note the guide used to indicate which photos have been uploaded (green border), which photos are in the queue (yellow border), which photos are not to be uploaded (grey border) and which images are altogether unavailable (red border).

Unfortunately, the extension appears to be limited to fetching the photos you have uploaded within specific albums. So, all your albums, mobile uploads, profile pictures, and wall photos are included. However, tagged photos are not included.

Once you have decided which photos to upload, select “Upload” from the bottom of the page. You may have to scroll down if you have a lot of photos.

The upload process will take some time depending on the number of photos you have selected.

Once all the photos have been uploaded, they will appear in segregated albums on your Web Picasa account.

The album is set to private by default and only those with a link to the album will be able to view the photos.

You can now choose which of your circles to share the photos with.

Conclusion

This app is useful if all your photos are stored on Facebook but you feel like switching your allegianceto Google+. It would be a lot more useful, however, if it was possible to upload all your photos (including tagged images) from Facebook to Google+. It is likely, that there are privacy settings that is blocking this type of functionality.

The Anonymous hacktivist group has announced that it will launch its very own social network, to be called AnonPlus, after accounts it held with Google+ were suspended for violating terms and conditions.

Google+ has recently been enforcing a policy of shutting down profiles which contain fake names or those that represent organisations rather than individuals, so it’s not exactly surprising to see Anonymous-related profiles being zapped.

AnonPlus, Anonymous’s answer to the likes of Google+, is far from ready, however.

A team of 17 Java developers has been announced on the site’s holding page, alongside a manifesto announcing the “new social network where there is no fear of censorship” and “no more oppression”, but it seems that any working infrastructure for AnonPlus is some considerable way off still.

It’s hard not to be cynical about the prospects of a new social network being built from scratch.

Yes, Google – with all the resources it has available – appears to have done a good job with Google+, but surely the chances for a loosely-knit amateur collective like Anonymous who reject organisational constructs, will have a much steeper challenge.

Anyone remember Diaspora? They had the advantages of support from many and even some funding, but they seem to have gone awfully quiet lately, don’t they?

It will be interesting to see if AnonPlus becomes popular if/when it launches with the very people it is intended to help – those who are being prevented by oppressive regimes from sharing information freely and safely with the rest of the world.

In what may very well be the first major cybercriminal campaign exploiting the Google+ brand, spammers are sending out bogus Google+ invitations that in reality point to online pharmacies.

The messages look similar to the real emails that users may receive from friends who are already members of Google+.

However, clicking on the links will not take you to the new social network, but instead take you to a pharmacy website set up to sell the likes of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra to the unwary. In the case of the site shown below, they even have a special July 4th promotion – just in case you were hoping for additional fireworks on the night.

The spammers are no doubt hoping that the email will be too hard to resist for many people eager to see Google’s new social network, although just how many users will be tempted to buy drugs online is a mystery.

Are you on Google+? Why not add Naked Security to the circle of people you’re following?

If you’re on Google+ and want to connect more with Naked Security, you can do a very lot worse than follow us up there. Here’s where you can find us (or just click on the image below):

We’ll be investigating security and privacy on Google+ and reporting back on our findings. Look forward to seeing some of you up there!

The mystery of the black menu bar at the top of your Google searches this morning is solved. Apparently, it’s part of gearing up for Google’s latest assault on the social networking scene.

Facebook’s latest competitor is alive, and it’s called Google+. (You say that name like you might read out a broken line of C code – Google plus.)

Although Google+ has officially launched – its web site says so – you can’t actually try it yet. More accurately, you may be able to. Or you may not.

In the groovy prose which typifies Google’s self-belief, it is “launching with what we call a field trial period, an invitation-only approach to help smooth out the rough edges as we start the project.”

To you and me, then, it’s still in closed beta.

Given the legal crisis Google plunged into with its Buzz product last time it took on Facebook, it’s reasonable to assume Google will be much more cautious on the privacy front this time round.

Nevertheless, if you’re interested in Google+, you should probably start getting ready now for its public launch by reading (or re-reading) Google’s policies on privacy. There are several.

There are Google’s terms. These are still dated 2007, so they still impose the same conditions, such as: only using Google’s user interface to get at Google stuff; permitting Google to update its software on your computer when it wants; agreeing to accept said updates; and allowing Google to watch what you do to send you targeted advertising.

You’d better read the Picasa Privacy Notice, too, in case you ever upload a photo. And that is supposed to happen automatically and instantly every time you snap a picture on your phone.

Actually, to save searching time, you can use the Google Privacy Center to dig into all 37 of of Google’s privacy policies, from +1 (like Like, it really means Recommend) through to YouTube.

The most intriguing items in the User Content section are the do as we say, not as we do clauses, such as “do not distribute content that facilitates online gambling, including online casinos, sports betting or lotteries,” and “do not drive traffic to commercial pornography sites.”

(Trying to find somewhere to bet online? Want to learn how to Start A Porn Business Now? Search on Google for “gambling” and “commercial porn sites” and you will quickly find out how to do just those things, with highlighted paid ads to make sure you don’t miss out.)

Remember the rules. Don’t be evil. Do as we say, not as we do. And definitely don’t compete for advertising clicks.

Anyway, happy privacy policy reading.

The good news is that you’ve still got time to give feedback on any of the Google+ terms and conditions which you find unpalatable. Google has listened before – for example, when its early T&Cs claimed intellectual property rights over everything you uploaded.

Last year, 90% of you who took part in our poll said you wanted Facebook to become completely opt-in; if you’d like to see Google outdo Facebook by adopting an entirely opt-in model – where all features are off until you explicitly turn each and every one on – then this would be a good time to say so!